Punk Rock Princess
by Mags3
Summary: When a bad break up forces Rory to abandon anything familiar and start a new life on her own, can one determined musician convince her he's worth a chance? Literati


Title: Punk Rock Princess

Rating: PG-13 (any possible objectionable stuff will be implied)

Summary: When a bad break up forces Rory to abandon anything familiar and start a new life on her own, can one determined musician convince her he's worth a chance? Literati

Chapter One- Girlology

Song to Read by- The Kim Band- Girlology

Rory slammed a shot of vodka down in front of a guy with a spike in his chin. He toasted to her and she accepted his twenty even thought the drink was only six dollars. She learned something with this job, the tips counted. She barely made enough already and her deadline was in a month. She just didn't have anything to say. She'd sit down in front on her computer and try and move her fingers over the keys, nothing would come out. She missed her boyfriend, Tristan who she'd broken up with two months ago. She was over him, yes but he'd ignited the fire in her, the fire to help her write. 

Unfortunately being single didn't have as many perks as she'd hoped. She came home to an empty apartment, she cooked her own meals and she was forced to go bar hopping with her best friend Mike, the gayest guy on the planet. Sure, he was great but she didn't like bar hopping, she didn't like bars that much at all, funny since she worked in one. Eventually she'd gotten used to the smoke, haze and loud music that were Tricent, her home bar. 

She'd been working there for two months. The job had been thrown at her though Mike, who knew the owner. She didn't want to know how. Still, this job was fun, it kept her in shape and it helped her pay the bills. That and the funds from her last book which had hit the bestseller list. 

My Guide to Small Town Life. By Rory Gilmore.

Her mother had been proud. Still she wasn't who she wanted to be as a teenager. She wasn't an overseas corespondent. She doubted that dream now and then because despite appearances she was pretty happy, considerably happy. 

She'd left Stars Hollow, she'd gone to Harvard, she started seeing Tristan, she wrote her book, she contracted for a second, she started it, she ended things with Tristan, stopped writing and started bartending. What a life I lead, Rory murmured to herself as she slammed three beers in front of another guy ogling freely at her chest. She rolled her eyes. "What time do you get off work?" He asked, the same question every night.

"I told you, I'm seeing someone." She lied and headed back down the bar accepting his tip, the same every night. An extra six bucks. Counting in her head she tallied her tips for the night at about two hundred dollars. She served a few more customers and wiped the sleep from her eyes. It was three in the morning. 

She now knew what it was like to be nocturnal. Tomorrow was her night off and she was sure Mike was planning on taking her bar hopping. She needed to a) go shopping, b) do laundry c) finish book d) sleep. Hopefully she could tear Mike away from his nightly shenanigans to hang out with her. Help her buy some new clothes, she lived in her tight blue jeans and black tank top. It was all she could afford for work at the moment, and she had to dress like a hooch, just not be one. That was her one and only rule. It helped her keep her job.

At four in the morning they shooed the last stragglers out of the bar and she closed up taking home four hundred in tips. She usually made the most near the end of the night because most people were too drunk to notice the bills they handed too her. Her second night working there she stopped feeling guilty about taking them. Outside the bar Mike pulled up in his car and she jumped in. "What are you doing here?" She asked as he drove into the street. 

"Just thought I'd pick you up, tomorrows your night off." 

" That's nice of you. Guess what we're doing tomorrow?" 

"Shopping and Laundry?" He asked.

"How did you guess?" She replied a bit surprised.

"Babe, I've known you for what? Five months? Anyway whenever you have a day off or whatever you always go shopping and do laundry unless I can get you out of the house. Chica we need to do something fun."

"Nuh uh, " she shook her head "I need to do laundry, I have no underwear left, and I need to go shopping because I have no clothes to wear."

"Don't you mean books? Whenever we go shopping you end up blowing clothes money on books and we spend a great mall-day in Barnes and Noble."

"That's so not true." She protested.

"It so is. You know it." He replied. "That's why those jeans are the only suitable work clothes you own, because I haven't been able to skank you up yet." He smiled at her. She laughed as he pulled up in front of her apartment. 

"Okay, I promise, tomorrow no books. Pick me up at three." She slammed the door to his car and he drove away. 

The next night she collapsed onto her bed, the only piece of furniture in her apartment. Laden down with shopping bags she pulled up an array of new tank tops and tight jeans. At least now she had enough to wear to work, even if it wasn't her style. She was ashamed to say it, but it brought in the tips. She ducked into her closet and pulled out a bunch of hangers. Glancing down, she noticed a box, taped shut, at her feet. Tossing the hangers onto her bed she picked it up carried it into the kitchen and slit it open with a knife. 

Several shapes were wrapped in paper and duck tape; curious she unwrapped each revealing long lost framed photographs. The first one featured her and Lane taken by her mother. The second was, similar and smiling she placed them around her apartment. The third was of her and her mother together in the Gazebo. Sadness engulfed her and she realized how much she missed her mother, Lorelai. Glancing at her watch she knew it was way to later to phone home. She would call tomorrow. The last frame wasn't wrapped in paper but hastily stuck in the bottom of the box covered in dust and grime. She lifted in out slowly and wiped the glass front clear. She found herself staring at a face she hadn't seen in a long long time.

Jess.

She'd almost forgotten what he looked like. 

Clearing the front of the glass completely she remembered when this photograph had been taken. She had one arm wrapped around his shoulder and he, the same. 

After the wedding, the kiss they'd seen different people until the following summer. They'd been together for two months when she'd left for Harvard, he for Trade School. She remembered him, everything that they went through together and she spent a while wondering what had happened to him. 

Eventually she crawled into bed and sleep fell upon her. Screw Laundry, was her final thought before she drifted into a coma like state. 

End oF Chapter One 


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